It’s down to the last eight in the 2013 Men’s European Volleyball Championship and Euro powerhouse spikers from Russia and Serbia are still in contention. They take on separate opponents in France and Belgium, respectively, in the knockout quarterfinal round.

Russia is off a dominating performance against Slovakia, 25-20, 25-14, 25-21 to advance to the quarters, while France automatically qualified by topping Pool B.

French defeated Slovakia, 25-20, 35-33, 28-26 in three close sets in their first game and then beat Poland, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20 and Turkey, 25-21, 23-21, 18-25, 25-23 in the next two.

Slovakia didn’t know what hit them as they couldn’t handle the Russian trio of Nikolay Pavlov (17), Dmitriy Muserskiy (12) and Evgeny Sivozhelez (10) all finished in double-figure points.

France will be led by Marien Moreau who leads the team with 18.5 points per game in 5 outings.

Meanwhile, defending champions Serbia will be tested by Belgium, which got the playoff bye after ranking first in Pool A. The Belgians were the surprise automatic quarterfinalists as they beat World No. 3 Italy in 5 sets, 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 25-27, 15-9.

Serbia recently ousted the hosts Denmark in straight sets, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22. Practically everyone contributed for the Serbians as seven players had 5 points or more and no one reached double-digits scores.

Belgium will be led by a three-pronged attack of Bram Van Den Dries (15.9 points per game), Simon Van de Voorde (10.5) and Pieter Verhees (10.3).

Other quarterfinals matches pit Finland vs. Italy and Germany vs. Bulgaria.

2013 Men’s European Volleyball Championships Live Streaming and Schedule
Quarterfinals – Sept 25, 2013 (Wednesday)

France vs. Russia
Finland vs. Italy
Belgium vs. Serbia
Germany vs. Bulgaria